Wednesday, January 23, 2008

A Great Luminosity

So we kept working with the third sutra tonight. "When yoga happens the seer dwells in the splendor of his true nature." I looked up the word for splendor and it means "A great luminosity." Anyway, isn't it nice to consider that when yoga happens we will dwell in great light? I love that. I also like that because it points us once again the idea/fact/teaching that who we most truly are is good. Full of light. Luminous. Ahh...

So at 5:30 we worked on some standing poses and getting the inner spiral of the legs established so that we could take the tailbone in and then open the heart, making room for the luminosity to shine. It was a great class- also I taught about how to use kidney loop in ustrasana to ease back pain. We made a valiant attempt to get the head organized in ustrasana but I think that is going to need a re-visit. Or five. (!) It is a fun class with people working hard and making great progress. Such great students.

The beginners learned about Spanda and about Organic Energy. Last week they learned Muscle Energy and so this week they learned Organic Energy. Spanda is the pulsation of the Divine. One of the ways that the divine functions, according to the Kashmir Shaivism tradition, is in a pulsation of opposites. The Singular Presence of the Divine manifests as a pulsation of opposites. So just as we have the one breath we have, within that breath, an inhale and an exhale. Just as we have one 24-hour day, we have nighttime and daytime. Like that.

This Beginning Series class is a really awesome group as well. People are respectful, listening and not hesitating to put the principles to work in their poses. I am able to just download a bunch of information to them because of their studentship. At the end of eight weeks they will not look like beginners- that is for sure. Already, they have made so much progress. I started them on the "repeat after me" technique of learning. (Everyone say it: "1. hug to the bone...2. draw to the midline..." ) So fun.

I learned a great story today from Craig. I told him about the little drama I alluded to in my post yesterday but gave no details about. He was reviewing my joytish chart and told me about how Venus is in my first house, which is actually her house and so is in an exalted position. Anyway, evidently, Venus rules teaching. He said, "You know it is funny that this situation is arising for you. Venus is the consummate teacher. In fact, Venus would teach anybody who was a good student. She did not care. (In this case, what studio they belonged to.) If they did the tapas, if they prepared themselves, she would even teach the demons! (Not that my YogaYoga students are demons, mind you. Not by a long shot. I think of you guys more like angels. Really. Thank God for you, as far as I am concerned. But I digress.)

Evidently the demons would learn the yogic secrets from her and then go put them to use. At times, they would even win battles against the Gods with the information they got from studying with her. And so the Gods would get mad at Venus about teaching the demons. She would say, "Hey look, they did the tapas, they did the purification and so I taught them. You could have learned from me, had you wanted to, had you done the work, I would have taught you. So what are you really mad at?"

Ahh...What a story. Venus kicks ass. (Too bad Venus is not an option on the Facebook "What Superhero Are You?" application.)

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“Who is an authentic seeker, but someone who has understood that there is nothing else to do but practice? Enthusiastic or discouraged, he or she continues, no matter what."-Lee Lozowick

"I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing, or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated, precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which come shape of achievement, the sense of one’s being, the satisfaction of spirit. One becomes in some area an athlete of God. Practice means to perform over and over again, in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire." - Martha Graham

"Abhyasa (practice) is a dedicated, unswerving, constant, and vigilant search into a chosen subject pursued against all odds in the face of repeated failures, for indefinitely long periods of time."- B.K.S. Iyengar

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